Bode Miller, who had back surgery in November, training today in Kitzbuehel, Austria, in hope of making it back for world championships in Beaver Creek in two weeks. (Alexis Boichard, Agence Zoom/Getty Images)

Bode Miller had an impressive result Thursday in his attempted comeback from back surgery, finishing sixth in a World Cup downhill training run at Kitzbuehel, Austria. He was 45th there in a training run on Tuesday.

Miller trained last week at Wengen, Switzerland, but decided not to race because his back didn’t feel ready. He sounded encouraged after Thursday’s run on the classic Streif course, the most difficult and dangerous downhill in the world.

“It felt better,” Miller told media in the finish area. “I was happy with it today. This is one of the steps that I was hoping to make. I still don’t think it’s ready to race, but it’s making good progress for when I do race.”

Park City, Utah — Five-time Olympic medalist Bode Miller sat out last season because of microfracture surgery on his left knee in early 2012, but he says he was able to ski without pain at a recent U.S. Ski Team training camp in Portillo, Chile.

“My knee has been a work in progress, I guess,” Miller said Monday at the Olympic Media Summit, a media event focusing on the Sochi Games in February. “It was great down in Portillo, I had no pain and was skiing with high intensity — within reason. I had been off snow quite a bit, so I wasn’t really taking a lot of risks. At this point the one thing in an Olympic season that you do have to be a little more cognizant about is risk management. It’s easy to make stupid mistakes in the summer training.”

U.S. skicross racer Langely McNeal competes at the Winter X Games in Aspen. She was disqualified from final when the French team protested the hair-tie on her right leg, seen here in this ESPN photo. The tie violated X Games and FIS rules related to strapping clothing tighter to seek an aerodynamic edge.

It was the hairband she had wrapped around her baggy ski pants, just below the band honoring fallen freeskier Sarah Burke. McNeal initially said it was the Sarah band that sparked her disqualification. While it’s highly unlikely the elastic hair tie gathered around her right shin made much difference in her semi-final heat –- which saw four racers tumble in a tangle while the 28-year-old McNeal cruised past and into her first X Games finals -– it was enough to get her disqualified from a rare U.S. female appearance in skicross finals.

French coaches protested the hair tie. X Games officials concurred that the string violated FIS-inspired regulations regarding straps on clothing in skicross races. French skier Marielle Berger –- who finished fourth in the semi-finals, 14 seconds behind McNeal -– advanced to the finals after McNeal’s disqualification yet failed to podium.

It looks like the men’s Olympic downhill will go off today as scheduled at 11:30 a.m., Denver time. But we’re all wondering if it will be a fair race. Or will luck of the draw mean everything?

Soft conditions have prevailed on the Whistler downhills, and the softer the course, the better it is to run early. Seeding rules stipulate that the seven top-ranked racers run from Nos. 16-22, randomly distributed within that range. The second-best eight run Nos. 8-15, randomly distributed. If conditions are soft, it may favor racers who aren’t ranked in the top 15.

“This is when upsets happen, big time,” said Lindsey Vonn’s husband, Thomas, a former U.S. Ski Team racer.

If it comes down to luck of the draw today, some US racers are in great position. Young Andrew Weibrecht drew No. 4. Steve Nyman goes sixth. And Bode Miller has the best possible number he could have drawn, No.8.

The men’s downhill four years ago was won by Antoine Deneriaz of France, who got a huge break with the weather during the race. Let’s hope today’s race isn’t unfair as well.

I will tweet from the finish area with race updates. Follow me on Twitter at jmeyer26.

As you may know, Ski Club Vail product Lindsey Vonn cut her thumb on a broken champagne bottle Monday night while celebrating her second gold medal at the world championships in France. What she did after that offers all the insight you need to understand how special she is.

After the medal ceremony that day, she did a television interview with Austrian TV and then stopped at a Rossignol party for what was supposed to be a 10-minute appearance. I have no doubt she would have preferred a private dinner with her husband, but Rossignol is an important sponsor. That’s where she cut her thumb — a Rossi guy had broken open the bottle with a ski because the cork wouldn’t come out — and severed a tendon.

After having her wound stitched, Vonn was given the option of cancelling a teleconference with reporters back in the U.S., but she insisted on doing it. For a half hour on the call she was gracious, articulate and informative — but never mentioned her thumb injury. She did talk about how she doesn’t want to restrict access in the weeks approaching the Vancouver Olympics because she wants to bring her sport as much exposure as she can.

“She smiled through her voice and helped over a dozen journalists pen brilliant stories helping America to celebrate her stunning downhill victory,” blogged US Ski Team press aide Doug Haney. “To me, that grace is the true definition of a World Champion. The call ended and Lindsey walked out of the small room she was sitting in for the call. She smiled and gave me a hug of thanks, then went to eat dinner — she hadn’t eaten since lunch. It was 9:30 at night. On the table, next to where she was sitting for the call was a glass of champagne. It was shy one sip.”

Lindsey Vonn is no Bode Miller. She didn’t get hurt because she was “wasted” at the Rossignol party. At a press conference Thursday she said she’d never opened a bottle of champagne before and didn’t know how to do it. It was just an accident that wasn’t even her fault.

Vonn is one of the greatest assets the US Ski Team has ever had. As one ski team exec said this week, “We’re wondering what we did to deserve her.”